How would you run our country? Students in this lesson will look at how our country governs itself, problems and benefits of that structure, and redesign the government in the form of an infographic.
Skills Built
- Illustration
- Composition
- Presenting Information in a compelling fashion
- Forming an opinion and argument based off of research
Deliverables
- 18 x 24″ Infographic Poster
Materials
- 18 x 24″ printer paper
- Printer
- Classroom computers equipped with creative software like the Adobe Suite or Corel Draw
This assignment may be done in conjunction with the student’s National State and Local Government class if it is being taught in a high school, or can be isolated to the art room. The class will spend several class sessions researching how our government is structured and the duties of each of its three branches. After combining the class’ knowledge about the three branches of government, the class will hold a debate discussing how different issues in government are handled and how they might better be handled. Possible topics to discuss:
- Party politics
- Lobbying
- Filibustering
- Vetoes
- Voting
- The president’s role as commander in chief
- Checks and balances
- and other issues of the government’s decision making
Students, together will come up with a list of pros and cons for our government system.
After this point, students will know a bit more about the United States’ governing system, but what about other systems out there? Thus, teachers will then assign each student a form a government and a country to quickly research and give a five-ten minute overview presentation. The students will then inform each other of various examples of other governments including:
- Republic
- Socialism
- Autocracy (including dictatorship and monocracy)
- Anarchism
Their overview presentation should also include pros and cons of the system that they are presenting on.
Now that the students are informed, they can think about how to restructure their own government here in the United States. Students will redesign their government system in the form of an 18×24″ infographic. The infographic can include diagrams of how their government will work, statistical data supporting their proposal, and an explanation of how their system works.
Once students have completed their infographics, copies will be sent to legislators of their choosing (state senator, area delegate, or even the President).